Apple confirms plans for 'green' data center in Oregon

Apple confirmed on Tuesday plans to build a "green" data center in Prineville, Oregon on a 160-acre plot of land that it purchased for $5.6 million.

Last December, people familiar with the matter indicated that Apple was "nearing a decision" to build a server farm in Oregon. After a filing with the Crook County clerk's office emerged last week with Apple's name on it, the Cupertino, Calif., company has publicly confirmed the development, which is known as "Project Maverick," KTVZ.com reports.

"We purchased the land and its for a data center, said Apple spokeswoman Kristin Huguet, adding that the facility will be "green." Earlier this week, the company revealed in a Facilities Environmental Report that its massive server farm in North Carolina will utilize the largest end-user-owned onsite solar array and the largest non utility fuel cell installation in the U.S., making it the only facility in its class to earn LEED Platinum certification.

According to the report, county commissioners signed the deed for the purchase on Feb. 15, the same day that the state senate voted in legislation that removed an earlier threat of property taxes for data centers in the area.

Officials said they were bound by non-disclosure agreements and offered few details on the project, though one judge did say that he's confident it will be "good for Prineville and Crook County."

"These folks have been wonderful to work with," said Judge Mike McCabe. "We will look forward to a long-term relationship with them."

Apple's facility will be just minutes from a Facebook server farm that opened last year. McCabe revealed that the social networking site "kind of helped recruit" Apple to come to Prineville. Facebook reportedly allowed Apple representatives to tour its facility last summer.

Good lord, Apple post-Jobs sure is chatty. I mean I read that statement "We purchased land and it's for a data center" and thought, "Wait, Apple spokespeople are just making flat declarative sentences about what Apple intends to do now? Isn't this a sign of the end times?"

Good lord, Apple post-Jobs sure is chatty. I mean I read that statement "We purchased land and it's for a data center" and thought, "Wait, Apple spokespeople are just making flat declarative sentences about what Apple intends to do now? Isn't this a sign of the end times?"

"A data center" doesn't tell us anything, though. It's to be expected that a company with cloud services needs a data center. What is being done with it, however, is beyond that sentence.

First they would have to develop robots to perform maintenance operations - as it would simply be too expensive and take to long to send a crew up every time a hard drive need to be replaced.

then again - you'd likely use SSD instead - still there'd be some sort of moving parts on board.

also - how much of the Earth's surface could you cover with a single geo sync device? aren't there something like 24 satellites used for GPS - of course you need multiple signals for that to work and there might be areas such as the middle of the oceans that would not need coverage - unless you wanted to be able to cover all shipping lanes etc - but perhaps that could be small relay satellites instead of full configurations.

also - how much of the Earth's surface could you cover with a single geo sync device? aren't there something like 24 satellites used for GPS

Just a small nitpick, GPS satellites aren't in GEO. They are in Middle Earth Orbit about halfway to GEO so they orbit twice in one day. There ARE satellite internet providers out there, but the ping is horrible, the upload speed is non-existant, etc, etc, etc.

Just a small nitpick, GPS satellites aren't in GEO. They are in Middle Earth Orbit about halfway to GEO so they orbit twice in one day. There ARE satellite internet providers out there, but the ping is horrible, the upload speed is non-existant, etc, etc, etc.

Pick all the nits you like - I was not suggesting that GPS is anything like geo sync - in fact I was using that as a contrast - what I meant to imply is that if it was possible to provide pervasive coverage from geo sync then you wouldn't need 24 satellites to provide GPS coverage.

geosync is around 35km to 42km above the equator - GPS is more like 20km above the earth and in 6 different planes with 4 satellites per orbit.